This invention relates to mail box ganging apparatus. More particularly, it relates to a system and apparatus for assembling a gang of mail boxes together with modification of boxes to facilitate such ganging.
While the shape and construction of rural mail boxes have generally been standardized along one or more sets of specifications approved by the Post Master General, their installation and support structures have taken various forms with little regard to the strength, permanency, aesthetics and facilitation of delivery of mail by mail men. To facilitate and expedite delivery, the ganging of a plurality of mail boxes at one location is most desired. Such ganging, when implemented, has required horizontal and vertical supporting platforms for each box of the gang and such supporting platforms for each box of the gang and such supporting platforms involve cost and construction problems whose solution heretofore have neither been uniform, simple nor of low cost. Moreover, the present construction of mail boxes utilizes indicator flags to communicate to mail men that the box contains outgoing mail. This flag construction is believed to be relatively expensive in fabrication and fails to lend itself to the ganging of mail boxes at the lowest cost. Moreover, the present latching mechanism requires separate stamping of piece parts which, when mounted, extend outwardly beyond the body of the box to facilitate their destruction or deformation.
To expedite delivery of mail and to minimize the cost of mail box construction, a desirable mail box and ganging apparatus would include:
(a) a unit which would eliminate vertical and horizontal supporting platforms;
(b) a unit which would utilize the construction of the mail box as an inherent structural component;
(c) an apparatus in which multiple rows of boxes can be ganged in a manner to achieve greater strength and permanency at the lowest possible cost;
(d) an apparatus in which the multiple rows of boxes could be ganged to inherently form a construction similar in effect to that of a rigid wide flange beam;
(e) a box flag system low in cost, simple in manufacture and which would not interfere with proper ganging of the mail boxes adjacent to one another; and
(f) an access door which facilitates the mounting of the flag system and simplifies the latching mechanism.